DISCONTINUED It's sometimes safer to be in danger's path, which is where an elfin prince and his two best friends are headed. But with the clumsiness of an insistent pirate, they find themselves in more danger than they bargained for.

The sun had just disappeared behind the distant
mountains when Aarik, Tyrone, and Echo finally dragged themselves into the
darkened streets of Yeher. Hunger
plagued their stomachs, as sleep did their eyes, causing both spirits and
energy to be low.

Any provisions that they had managed to gather
before leaving Lioshina had been consumed in the long, three-day travel to the
city, leaving them with nothing but their angered stomachs.

As they stepped out onto the rutted streets,
anxiousness to arrive at where they would be able to sleep and eat suddenly
engulfed them. Their eyes, normally
clear in the darkness, were starting to become fogged with sleep deprivation,
and their normally upright and proud shoulders sagged.

Mud-encrusted calves were burning, protesting
strongly against every step they took as they forced themselves down the empty
streets. Heavy cloaks, smeared in
speckles of dirt from the forest, dragged them down, making the walk through
the city seem impossibly long.

The two moons had almost risen to their positions in
the sky when Aarik finally spotted a hotel with vacancies.

"There," he announced, relieved. The two guards followed his gaze, and upon
seeing the wooden amenity posted in the window, drew their hoods closer to hide
all elfin features.

The three glided quickly toward the wooden sidewalk
across the street, stepping up to the rough-cut door. Tyrone moved forward and pushed it open,
allowing the other two to enter ahead of him, before he stepped past the
threshold and into the small lobby; the door closed behind him with a soft
thud.

Once within, a warm gush of air greeted their
flushed cheeks, as did the strong scent of cornbread and thick soup. Their stomachs growled painfully as they
heard dishes clinking in the restaurant beside where they stood.

A lone woman sat behind the small counter in the
corner, reading a thick book as she chewed on her fingernail. Aarik stepped forward, causing her to roll
her deep-sunken blue eyes up at him.

He gave her a smile, which she did not return.

Instead, she sighed and slammed her book down with a
thud, as if his being there was a personal insult. After a moment of stunned silence on his
behalf, she demanded, "What?"

"What d'ya think?" she sneered, motioning to the
sign placed in their window.

"We would like to have a room…please."

In a dull response, she sighed, "Kay." The woman stared at him; Aarik stared
back. After a moment she shoved her
hand, palm up, toward him and ordered, "You gotta gimme money first, ya
firk." He blinked, startled by the rude
insult. She added, "You ain't stayin'
here for free unless yer lookin' ta be lynched."

"How…how much?"

She stared at him again, this time like he was
crazy. "Where are you from," she
demanded, her voice cracking in mid-sentence, "the sea? What's the same price of every hotel in this
kingdom? Four rouples – as much as that
bastard king will let us charge!"

Aarik attempted to act like he already knew about the
human king's rules, clearing his throat as he dug into his side pouch. "Oh, of-of course…the law…I'm terribly sorry,
miss."

The woman rolled her eyes, shoving her hand further
forward. He placed the coins carefully
into her calloused palm, and in return she shoved a key into his. "Room twelve," she said, snatching up her
book again. "Up the stairs and to the
left. I think you can find it from
there…unless you'd like me to remind you what a twelve looks like?"

Aarik ignored her rude sarcasm and turned away from
the desk, heading up the rickety staircase.
His two guards followed him stiffly, both wanting to hurt, or at least
threaten the woman for insulting their prince and friend. They refrained, but with difficulty.

Once safely out of the woman's hearing and on the
landing of the stairs, Echo spat, "What a despicable race of creatures!"

Tyrone, however, agreed with the original
comment. "Humans are fools."

The prince sighed and shook his head, trying to be
patient with his friends' stereotyping and assumptions. "Tyrone, Echo, please calm yourselves. It has been a long day and I am in no mood to
listen to your complaints."

They fell silent.

Room twelve was located only a few doors away from
the stairs; however, once they reached it, the three realized how unnecessary
the key was. There was no lock.

"Nice," Echo said dully.

"Better than the woods," Aarik reminded her.

Tyrone reached forward, pushing the door open. The three friends walked into the threshold,
Echo closing the door with her foot once they were all inside. They pulled their hoods off and examined the
new surroundings.

A cot sat in the far left corner, the mattress
absent from its wooden frame. There was
a small, moth eaten blanket resting on the bedspring, no sheets were located
within the room. The pillow rested
weakly near the headboard, almost all of the feathers missing from its
interior.

A broken table sat in front of a small window, which
was lined with metal bars instead of glass.
Since small, metallic cylinders were the only things blocking the room
from the elements outside, a cool breeze floated into the room freely, sending
goose bumps up Tyrone's arms.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Sure about
that? I think I would rather sleep
outside than in this disgusting excuse for a room."

The prince shrugged as he walked deeper into the
room, examining it.

Echo warned, "Careful, the floor may fall through."

Aarik's lips twitched into a smile, though he wasn't
entirely sure she was joking. "Who gets
the-"

"You can," Tyrone interrupted. "We'll take the floor."

Echo agreed, "It's softer."

Aarik rolled his eyes, sitting down on the wooden
skeleton of a bed, his fingers tracing the side. He grimaced as a sliver caught in his thumb,
pulling his hand away sharply and examining it.
Perhaps Echo was right and the floor was
better….

His stomach let out a loud growl, reminding him of
the aching hunger present. He asked,
"Are you two ready to get something to eat?"
The two guards nodded, looking anxiously toward the door as the prince
rose to his feet, saying, "I saw a small restaurant beside the entry of the
inn. We can eat there." The three pulled up their hoods as they
exited the room, closing the door after they left.

Aarik followed his friends down the creaking
stairwell and past the ignorant greeter.
They moved to the entrance of the dining hall, freezing when they looked
inside.

There was only one way to describe the room: complete chaos.

Drinks of ale were rampant, being tossed around and
chugged in all corners. Waitresses were
in dresses too tight for their chests and hips, their hair pulled up into tight
buns atop their heads. A few danced on
tables, while others flirted mercilessly with the customers.

Disgusted, the female archer muttered, "Is this a
cathouse or a dining hall?" The three
slowly moved into the room, the prince in the lead as they weaseled past a few
humans.

"Of humans?" Echo replied, scrunching her nose
up. "I think not. It would make more sense to be jealous of
pigs." Tyrone laughed.

The young prince eventually found them a vacant
table that was somewhat clean, located beside the large fire that billowed in
the corner, keeping the lower half of the inn warm. Smoke flew out and burned the elves' eyes and
clogged their throats, but they seated themselves despite that. A bad table was better than no table at all.

After about fifteen minutes of sitting unattended, a
large-bosomed woman finally swayed toward them, wearing a red and white
dress. She set a mug from her tray in
front of each.

"Hiya, dolls," she purred with a large grin. "What can I get 'cha this lovely evenin'?"

"Soup would be fine, for all of us," Aarik answered.

The woman cooed, looking over at him as she stood
hipshot, "Now ain't that just a purdy accent, eh? Ne'er heard it before."

Aarik shifted uncomfortably, unsure of how to respond
to her comment.

She watched him for a moment longer, then said, "Ya
know, y'all can take off yer hoods. It's
warm 'round here."

The three elves slowly shook their heads,
self-consciously pulling the hoods farther over their faces.

Echo watched her sway through the crowd before she
turned to her friends. "We shouldn't
stay here for very long. Leave at
daybreak tomorrow."

Tyrone agreed, "If we are to continue west, we have
a long and harsh road ahead of us."

Aarik slowly nodded.
"Yes, we do."

"Then we had best not waste any time."

"We need to rest before we continue," he reminded
him; then, said, "The mountains will be our next line of cover, beyond them is
Blaxela.…"

Echo turned away from the conversation at her table
to toss a disgusted look over her shoulder as a fight broke out amongst a few
drunken humans. She began to open her
mouth to say something to her fellow elves, but cut herself off as she felt a
light tug at her side.

Quickly, the archer looked down, meeting a pair of
blue eyes, belonging to a young woman who was just shy of five feet tall. Her blonde, scraggily hair fell into her eyes
and reached well beyond her shoulders.
She wore a strange black hat and a baggy, white blouse, brown britches
to match. But what drew the elf's
attention the fastest was the long strand of Patrata shells at her side.

A pirate.

The girl tried to jump to her feet, taking Echo's
money pouch with her; however, the archer reached out and grabbed onto her
wrist before the blonde could go anywhere

"Give me that!"

"Er…no?" the pirate offered with a shrug.

Aarik and Tyrone both looked up as Echo rose to her
feet, attempting to grab the pouch; however, small pirate put her hand behind
her back, making it more difficult for Echo to reach the money she held. "Thief, give it to me!"

The woman looked offended. "Thief?
I ain't a thief."

"You're a pirate."

"But not a thief."

Echo glared at her.
"One walks, the other sails.
Other than that, there is no difference between the two," she paused, then added, "Except for perhaps
your hat. Only pirates are dumb enough
to wear something that...ridiculous."

"Ah, yes, I forgot your idiotic superstition," Echo
sneered, reaching to try and grab the bag.
The blonde moved so she couldn't snatch the pouch, grimacing as her
wrist twisted painfully in the archer's grip.

"See? There
are differences. They walk, we
sail. They're idiots, we're
superstitious. They have fashion sense,
we don't-" She paused. "Well, that isn't really important, is it?"

Echo demanded, "Where is your ship then, pirate? Where is one of the few things that
supposedly makes you better than thieves?"

She sighed, looking forlorn. "Scallywags took me ship. Left me only with my hat." She tapped the brim with finger, giving Echo
the chance to grab the bag. The pirate,
however, was faster than the elf anticipated and tucked it behind her back once
again. "Ah, ah."

Giving the young woman a scowl, Echo tried to
wrestle the bag from her; but, the blonde was much stronger than she looked,
and put up a fight. A brief scuffle
between the two of them ensued, resulting in only more trouble.

The pirate's hand caught Echo's hood, knocking it
askew, and revealing her pointed ears and almond-shaped eyes. At the sight of an elf in their dining hall,
a few humans, who had been watching the scuffle with amusement, rose to their
feet, eyes now glimmering with hate.

Aarik and Tyrone stood also, knowing it wouldn't be
long before more danger aroused.

"Pointed-ear freaks," one man snarled.

The three elves and the pirate slowly looked around,
eyeing the humans that now surrounded them.
Tyrone grasped the hilt of his sword and slowly pulled it from the
scabbard at his side.

A man lunged forward, moving to hit Echo. Swiftly, she let go of the pirate and
snatched a knife from her belt, stabbing him.

This action caused an uproar and more men from the
crowd shoved forward to attack the elves.
The short pirate fell away from the hell she had caused, scrambling
between legs and under chairs as she clung to Echo's money pouch.

Aarik's fist made contact with the chin of a human
coming up behind Tyrone. The man fell
backward, soon disappearing behind his comrades, all desperate to get their hit
in.

A screaming waitress began to hit his shoulder with
a tray. Aarik turned calmly around and
stared at her for a moment, before reaching forward and yanking it from her
hands. The woman gasped, wide-eyed, then
screamed, falling away. The prince
sighed, shaking his head.

Tyrone used the handle of his sword, smashing it
into the head of an attacker. He moved
easily to the side, dodging another one.
Quickly sliding his sword back into its sheath, he grabbed onto the
shirt of a human who was trying to double-team Echo, and knocked him out,
leaving the disposal of the other to the maiden.

Swarms of angry humans came upon the three fighting
elves. Echo gouged her elbow into a
stomach of an obese bartender, before swinging her leg up, contacting it with
the chin of another human. For a brief
moment, she saw a glimpse of the pirate standing at the doorway, grinning at
the havoc she had caused, then disappearing.
A surge of anger filled the archer-maiden, before her thoughts were
forcefully dragged back to the fight.

A man twice her brawn came charging forward, fists
flailing. Instead of trying to beat his
obvious weight ratio, she ducked and let the man plow into another behind her,
who happened to be fighting Aarik. Both
the prince and the maiden stared as the two humans began fighting each other,
forgetting in their drunken stupor who the enemy was.

It wasn't long before smaller brawls had started
around the elves; and soon after that, none of the three were involved in the
fight. The humans, too drunk to
distinguish the difference between enemy and ally, left the elves standing
beside each other in a confused silence.

After the initial shock of seeing the men fight each
other, they realized that it was time for them to escape the dining hall. The three elves pulled their hoods up and
ducked through the crowd. Before they
left, the three each grabbed a bowl of untouched soup that was sitting
unattended, then moved stealthy toward the stairs.

With a fuming Echo in the lead, they all pushed into
their room, closing the door once inside.
After setting her bowl down, the archer-maiden spun toward Aarik and
firmly announced, "I hate humans."

*Sorry for the delay in updates. This chapter was giving us a VERY hard
time. Oh, and Kimmy's (the sorceress in
the prologue) has been changed to Khimee.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.